Brandon develops tools, datasets, and research that help travelers, digital nomads, developers, and travel organizations better understand the world. These projects bring together open data, practical travel insights, and lightweight technology to create resources that are accessible to all. Each initiative is designed to solve a real need in the travel ecosystem, from planning and analysis to research and exploration.
Below is an overview of current and ongoing projects across the ecosystem.
No-/Low-Single Supplement Scoring Algorithm
This project explores how to measure the value of trips that waive or reduce single supplements for solo travelers. The algorithm provides a transparent scoring model based on price comparisons, supplement reductions, and fairness factors. It is available as an open-source library, along with examples and documentation, and will power future tools within the Brandon Travel and Solo Traveler networks.
Open Travel Datasets
A collection of open, CC0-licensed datasets covering airports, countries, cities, airlines, languages, and other traveler-relevant information. These datasets form the backbone of several tools, analyses, and guides. They aim to make reliable travel data freely available for builders, researchers, and anyone curious about how the world is connected.
Brandon Himpfen
Travel Tools and Calculators
Brandon develops lightweight, browser-based tools that assist with planning and analysis. These include utilities for time zone conversion, packing list generation, route exploration, and soon, digital nomad visa comparisons and entry requirement checkers. Each tool is designed to be simple, accessible, and built on open data wherever possible.
Travel APIs
The Brandon Himpfen API initiative will provide structured access to key datasets, including airports, countries, languages, and more. The goal is to offer a stable, easy-to-use API for developers building travel applications, research projects, and workflow automations. This API is in active development and will be expanded with community feedback and new datasets over time.
Travel Guides & Data-Driven Insights
Although guides and insights live as separate collections within Brandon Himpfen, they also function as ongoing projects. Country and city guides combine narrative travel content with structured data, creating a hybrid guide format that is both practical and research-friendly. Insights articles explore travel trends, visa updates, aviation changes, and broader patterns in global mobility.
Brandon Himpfen
Brandon Himpfen
CLI Tools for Travelers
Brandon is experimenting with command-line tools that assist solo travelers, digital nomads, and long-term explorers. These tools focus on planning, tracking, financial management, journaling, and using datasets directly from the terminal. Although still in early development, they represent a forward-looking approach to personalized travel utilities.
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Open Research for Travel and Mobility
Research is a core part of Brandon's mission. Current research initiatives include studying travel affordability, exploring solo travel patterns, improving travel data accessibility, and developing open methods for analyzing flight operations and mobility trends. Future work will expand into digital nomadism, sustainability, and global travel policies.
Awesome Lists for Travelers
Part of the ecosystem includes curated “Awesome Lists” — open, community-driven collections of resources for travelers, digital nomads, and travel-tech developers. These lists gather tools, guides, datasets, apps, and platforms into organized repositories that are easy to browse and contribute to.
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Contributing
Many projects are open source and welcome contributions. If you’d like to help improve datasets, report an issue, suggest a new tool, or contribute code or research, you can do so through GitHub. Collaboration strengthens the ecosystem and helps build better resources for travelers worldwide.
About Travel Projects
Every project under travel follows a simple purpose: to make travel information more accessible, data more open, and planning more empowering. Whether you're a casual traveler, a frequent explorer, or someone building tools for others, these projects are designed to support your journey.